1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer systems which are coupled to a telephone network. Specifically, the present invention pertains to computer systems having a caller identification feature.
2. Description of Related Art
With the advent of modern telephone systems, the ability to display the telephone number of a calling party is now possible. Many prior art systems for capturing the telephone number of a calling party are already well known. Such systems include private branch exchange (PBX) systems or other call processing systems. These conventional systems, however are limited to displaying to a computer user only the telephone number of the calling party. It is convenient in many circumstances, such as in an electronic conferencing system, to display additional information about a calling party. Prior art systems are unable to display this additional information. Additionally, it is convenient to display caller information to a computer user immediately upon receipt of the telephone call. It is typically inconvenient to require the computer user to activate a special function for displaying caller information at the same time the computer user is directing attention to answering the incoming call. It would also be convenient to display this caller information in a format familiar to most people. These and other limitations of the prior art are addressed by the present invention.
Thus, a better means for displaying caller identification information for a computer user is needed.